What I did ?

Solved about 300 problems on SPOJ in this order - Sphere Online Judge (SPOJ) Result ?

Became very good with C++ and STL

Got introduced to most Competitive programming KEYWORDS (like DP, maxflow,

sets, hashing, etc)

Learned Standard Problems and Algorithms

Indenting code

Fast typing :P How ? Before starting programming, I searched about how and where to start, many said "Learn an Algorithm, implement it, solve problems related to it". I did notdo it that way, If you know what algorithm to use you generally think in that direction and leave about correctness. I did them problem by problem, easy to hard, I spent 1 - 4 hours on a problem. I get the idea, I code it, Get it Accepted. (I used to test a lot, I always wanted to get AC on first go) I do not get the idea, I save that problem and try it after a month again. If I still do not get them, then search for hints. If it clearly needed some algorithm which I never used then I first smile (? I could not only because I did not knew the algorithm :P ) and then start reading about that algorithm. TopCoder had tutorials of almost all common algorithms. This is where I did a BIG MISTAKE. I never cared about correctness or run-time analysis proof, I always learned how to solve the problem using that algorithm, I hardly learned about how the algorithm works. I feel bad about it now, but that is how I solved those problems then. I solved max-flow, convex hull, etc., problems using described algorithms but I did not UNDERSTAND those algorithms then. Mistake: Once I started taking part in contests, I completely stopped practice. 35th in Global Ranking

CodeChef long contests are comparatively easy ( Which is good, You can learn a lot),

you get a lot of time to think about a problem, search for resources. You only need

KEYWORDS to search for similar problems.

I gave a lot of time for each contest. I used to solve 4 easy problems in 2-3 days, then

take 5-6 days for other 3 problems.

CodeChef rating system is not good. It is highly Volatile. If I am to start programming now, I would do it this way

1. Solve 200 most solved problems on SPOJ, Problem by problem.

(http://www.spoj.com/problems/classical/sort=-6) In 2 months.

(This will teach all standard problems, algorithms and implementation skills)

2. Solve problems from CodeChef and CodeForces for 2 months.

(This will teach variations, we can read others solutions and learn better ways.

Skip easy problems)

3. Solve problems from TopCoder for 2 months.

(This will teach Dynamic Programming. Div 1 500p)

4. Check past ACM ICPC Regional's Problems

(Great quality problems)

If I am to learn a new Algorithm now, I would do it this way

1. Read it from at least 3-4 different sources.

2. Understand correctness proof and run-time analysis.

(This is very very important, you will know it only when you deal with non

standard and hard problems)

3. Question yourself on every step for correctness. Try to tweak the implementation.

4. Check other implementations.

Final Note

Thought I became good in solving problems and had good rank. I later(Feb 13) realized

that I learned it the wrong way. I then started learning again. I learned all the algorithms

again this time gave importance to the algorithm itself, correctness proof and

mathematical analysis. It is worth the time.

Lucy and the Flowers - Problem from December long contest, Try to solve it with suffix

arrays. You can only if you understand suffix arrays and LCP completely.

I was able to solve a not-so-obvious medium level Max-Flow problem at ACM KGP

Onsite only because I completely understood how the algorithm works. It was at 4 hour

25 minutes I got 5th problem accepted, then I read this problem and got it accepted 4

minutes before end. Learning the algorithm helped. Dot.